The U.S. faces a looming mental health crisis associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to comments made Friday during a roundtable discussion with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Herseth Sandlin says she is frustrated that Congress and high-ranking veterans health officials are not doing more creative thinking to deal with it.

In a session covering education benefits, timely payments and other issues for recent military veterans, more than an hour was devoted to anecdotes about shortcomings in the delivery of mental health services, suggestions how to improve it, and Herseth Sandlin's inquiries to participants.

Again, another problem is caused by far-left liberalism that they blame on America:

While 58 percent of Republicans reported having excellent mental health, only 38 percent of Democrats described themselves that way.

The study was no surprise to D. Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., a noted psychiatrist and author of a controversial book that makes the clinical case liberalism is a mental illness.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave.

So a note to Pat Powers, I would rather be a hillbilly than a retard. I suggest that he stops believing the liberal lies from his Educrat wife and stop promoting the Nanny State "cradle to grave" pre-K agenda that "rebel[s] against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs ". I know that I should have left it alone, but I want to remind us of what Pat Powers said on February 10:

So, despite Sibby’s shoe banging rhetoric at myself and my beloved spouse, I want to make sure Steve knows that there’s no hate involved. I think we can agree that on many issues we do agree, and on some, it’s ok to have a difference of opinion, and to even debate them.

And if he can leave my spouse out of it, I’m sure I can manage to leave the hillbilly comments out of my posts.

So Powers continues his hillbilly attacks, which I don’t mind…it shows the same elitist attitude that you find in liberals. And his inability to fulfill promises perhaps is a mental illness problem, and certainly an indication that he can’t be trusted. And as I said earlier, perhaps it is his liberal Educrat wife that is driving Pat nuts.

September 26, 2006

To the editor - Rep. Stephanie Herseth and her supporters speak of her "independent voice in Congress"; however, a review of her top contributors (1989-2006) on www.opensecrets.org generates questions concerning her political independence.

Herseth has received $35,000 from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's PAC to the Future. Pelosi is a known Democrat leftist ideologue. Pelosi was fined in 2003 by the FEC (Federal Election Commission) for financial skullduggery involving her political action committees.

Herseth is a pro-abortionist supporter; NARAL rates her 100 percent, NARAL's top score. Pelosi receives the same score from NARAL.

DASHPAC (former Sen. Tom Daschle's PAC) has given Herseth $32,500 during the 1989-2006 election cycle time frame. Daschle's leftist political agenda is well known.

Being a lawyer, a leftist Democrat and a politician it is only natural that she received $35,000 from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America during the referenced time frame. However, two international law firms have contributed $65,500 and $31,050 respectively to Herseth. What internationalist leftist political/social agenda are they trying to sell in the U.S. Congress that they would support Herseth this way? Ask Herseth.

As a minority party junior congresswoman, Herseth can tap dance through and around the agenda thicket on issues (except abortion) without suffering the wrath of the Democrat party leftist leadership. They will give her the "2nd Amendment pass" so she can look good to the home state voters. Pelosi, Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Charles Rangel are smart that way.

The facts speak for themselves - Herseth is not an "independent voice in Congress."

October 25, 2004

The South Dakota House race between Larry Diedrich and Stephanie Herseth has been over shadowed by the Senate race. Today’s poll shows Diedrich closing the gap and within striking distance. If Daschle would not have won by just a very few votes n 1978, he made not have had the 26 years in DC. This House race is very important.

House Republican with jurisdiction over a suite of environmental issues says yesterday's House passage of a bill designed to stem "frivolous" lawsuits will help slow environmental litigation by activist groups.

The House, along essentially party lines, passed the "Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act" yesterday. The legislation would create mandatory penalties on attorneys who file suits dismissed as without merit, removing federal judges' existing discretion to apply such sanctions.

"Frivolous lawsuits filed under the guise of environmentalism actually hurt the environment and hinder economic growth at the same time," Pombo said in a prepared statement.

Environmental groups have countered that the legislation makes it more difficult to uphold anti-pollution and other environmental laws.

The bill, H.R. 4571, also requires suspension of attorneys from practicing in a federal district court for one year if they have brought three or more cases deemed frivolous in that court, among other provisions.

The bill passed 229-174, with 16 Democrats supporting the bill and three Republicans opposing it.

Herseth was not among the 16 Democrats supporting the bill. Remember, I just covered a lawsuit made by one of Tony Dean’s environmental comrades:

The National Wildlife Federation has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that duck, pheasant and other ground-nesting bird populations are being harmed by mismanagement of a government program that pays farmers to set aside croplands.
The lawsuit challenges a decision by the Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that allows haying and grazing on millions of acres of land enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program during times when birds are likely to be nesting or rearing broods in the inland West and Great Plains.

Haying is not permitted until after July 15 each year, long after the annual nesting(hatching) is completed. In our area, F & W has taken a more proactive approach to grazing their owned land, admittedly because of the "grass mat" situation. The last time I tried to re-enroll some CRP acres, rejected because not enough tall grasses were planted. How else does Nat'l Wildlife Fed think the grasses get tall? (Use promotes continual growth). But don't tell them something they should already know. After all, it is a "control" issue, not a conservation issue.

I have learned that cutting the prairie is actually healthy, otherwise things become "matted" and not good as beneficial to wildlife. One rancher said that he likes to cut a third every year, thus leaving two thirds for habitat and hunting. It makes sense to me.

Stephanie Herseth is no friend to South Dakota farmers, ranchers, and property owners. She instead is partial to environmentalists and trial lawyers.

September 06, 2004

On Wednesday, September 15th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at 436 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC is a fundrasier for Stephanie Herseth:

Sponsor ~ $250
Supporter ~ $125
Friend ~ $50
Student ~ $35

And who is the headliner? Father Robert Drinan, S.J. Nah and who is Father Drinan? Check this out:

When he wrote to applaud President Clinton's veto of a ban on partial-birth abortions, a controversial Jesuit priest was clearly out of step with the thinking of the Catholic Church. But his behavior was perfectly consistent with an ideological pattern that first became obvious when he ran for Congress--in direct defiance of orders from Rome.

…

In the United States even many liberal Catholics support Church teaching about abortion. It was therefore shocking that one of the president's strongest defenders was a Jesuit priest, Father Robert Drinan, who published articles in both the National Catholic Reporter and the New York Times attacking the bill and praising the President for having vetoed it. Such open partisanship is unusual among American priests, but it was not surprising in view of the fact that Father Drinan himself for ten years (l97l-8l) served in Congress, as a Democrat, and that while there was perhaps the single most reliable supporter of abortion "rights."

September 04, 2004

David Kranz does a puff piece on Stephanie Herseth in today’s Argus Leader. Herseth does make a good point:

"What I have found is that, for the most part, these issues aren't partisan. They're regional," Herseth said Friday in her first report to the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce's regular Inside Washington program since taking office June 2.

"While the divisions between Democrats and Republicans dominate the press, the more relevant divisions are between rural states like South Dakota and urban areas like New York City and Los Angeles."

Given the battle between rural verse urban, should South Dakota pick the farmer from South Dakota or the carpet bagging east-coast lawyer?

As we have found out with Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle, sometimes the conservative rural interests are compromised in exchange for the pork. As a Democrat Herseth will be asked to change her conservative vote if she wants continued Democrat support of South Dakota funding. The advantage that Diedrich (and also John Thune) have is they can continue to vote conservative on social issues without the Republicans threatening to remove support for South Dakota funding.

The people of South Dakota should realize that Dasche’s trying to have it both ways is not good for South Dakota. If we want a conservative to represent South Dakota, we should be sending a person whose party will allow them to be conservative.

July 29, 2004

A Sibby Online reader sent me this text from Roll Call regarding a breakfeast Stephanie Herseth spoke at in New York this week:

Newbie Rep. Stephanie Herseth (S.D.) has, unsurprisingly, been the toast of the town this week, a symbol of Democratic hopes that they can compete this fall in traditionally Republican states.

Still, it was still rather surprising to see Herseth with a guest speaker’s slot at the New York delegation breakfast Tuesday, introduced by former state Democratic Chairwoman Judith Hope as a “really stunning young woman from South Dakota.”

Herseth is one of those Democrats who must forever walk a line between her party’s liberal tendencies at the national level and her constituents’ bedrock conservative values.

First, she sounded like a small town girl visiting the big city.

“It sure is a treat for someone from South Dakota, one of the country’s smallest delegations to address one of the country’s biggest delegations,” she said.

But then she sounded more like a true believer. Speaking of her own special election victory two months ago, she said, “A true blue Democrat was elected in a red-blood red state.”

She also bragged that South Dakota is now one of four “progressive” states in the union. “Massachusetts, Hawaii and North Dakota are the others” with all-Democratic Congressional delegations. And she singled out Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), one of the most liberal Members around, as a mentor.

So how will South Dakota voters feel about Herseth consorting with all those New Yorkers? “They already know I consort with New Yorkers,” she laughed.

June 20, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 18, 2004
CONTACT: ROBERT REGIER 605-335-8100

HOUSE INCREASES ARTS FUNDING

SIOUX FALLS—An amendment to the Department of the Interior appropriations bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that shifted funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to the U.S. Forest Service was defeated Wednesday. The amendment would have cut $60 million in arts funding and increased funding for the Forest Service by $23 million. The amendment was sponsored by Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo. Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), voted against the measure.

Another pair of amendments to the DOI appropriations bill increased funding for the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities by $13.5 million. The amendments—voted on as a block—passed 241-185. Rep. Herseth voted for the measure, which actually fell short of President Bush’s funding goal by
several million dollars.

“Arts funding is an unconstitutional role of the government and a misuse of our hard-earned tax dollars,” said South Dakota Family Policy Council executive director Robert Regier. “President Bush and Congress should get
out of the art business. Not only would the arts survive but they would thrive once the government got out. Shakespeare did just fine without help from the government.

“Imagine the uproar from the wine-and-cheese crowd if they were forced to subsidize monster truck racing. Yet, for years we’ve been forcing monster truck fans to support the opera. Even worse, instead of helping the Forest
Service maintain a safer environment, Rep. Herseth voted to give more of our tax dollars to people to paint pictures,” Regier said.

June 16, 2004

Stephanie has promised the people of South Dakota that she will bring her South Dakota values to DC.
In keeping with that promise, you are cordially invited to a reception Welcoming Representative Herseth to Washington with some good ole South Dakota Fun.

June 10, 2004

SDP posted a Stephanie Herseth statement he found on a Democratic blog. Greg Belfrage also commented about it on Straight Talk today. Here it is:

"I just want to say again how much I appreciate all the efforts of those of you who ventured out to SoDak, survived the weather and helped us achieve victory two nights ago! I also want to send a special word of thanks to those bloggers who helped raise awareness for my campaign and make it a success. I can't thank you all enough for being part of making history in South Dakota, and I will work hard every day to meet the high expectations I hope you have of me in representing our generation of Democrats! "
-Stephanie Herseth

How many South Dakota voters should know about this regarding the so-called independent Stephanie Herseth? She even thanks “those boggers who helped raise awareness”. How many South Dakotans are aware of Daily Kos? Sibby Online readers may remember that Kos found this web site. How many South Dakotans saw the liberals over the top comments?
How many South Dakotans who voted for Herseth can be considered “our generation of Democrats”?
The reason South Dakotans don't know the real Stephanie Herseth is due to the bias of the Argus Leader.

May 31, 2004

The word on the street is that Bill Clinton, the white man who speaks with forked tongue, is on a recorded phone message to South Dakota Native Americans promising a vote for Herseth would be a vote for tribal sovereignty, jobs, and improved health care. The ad was paid for by the DCCC. Hillary’s PAC has also provided funding for the so-called independent moderate…Stephanie Herseth. After 26 years of Tom Daschle, when will the Native Americans wake up? Hell...when will the rest of South Dakotans who have been sold on the Democrats' socialism wake up?